X is for Xander

This month I'm participating in A to Z Challenge, where 100's of bloggers around the world challenge themselves to write every day for the month of April, working their way through the alphabet.  I'm stitching the Buffy The Vampire Slayer alphabet cross stitch pattern (available from my Etsy store).  Each day I will share that letter's stitching, as well as a bit about the relevant character.

X is for Xander Harris
I love that this is a genuine X and not a stretch like most of my other 'X' posts have been!

Yes I included the eye-patch.

Alexander "Xander" Harris was born in Sunnydale in 1981 to rather negligent, if not abusive, parents.  He attended the local kindy (where he met Willow) and primary school, before attending Sunnydale High, where he met Buffy Summers and became a founding member of the Scooby Gang.  Xander harboured quite a crush on Buffy for a number of years before turning his attention to Cordelia, and later Anya (who he left at the alter, as explained in the E post).  

After High School, Xander drifted from temporary job to temporary job  before discovering building and carpentry, at which he excelled, and was eventually able to move out of his parents' basement into an apartment of his own.  Xander fought (albeit not very skillfully) alongside Buffy for seven years.  He eventually lost an eye during an altercation with the priest Caleb (played by Nathan Fillion) in the final season, before helping Buffy blow up the town, and riding into the sunset with everyone else on the big yellow bus.

Xander was the non-supernatural member of the Scooby Gang, never gaining any magical powers or special strength or brilliant intelligence.  He was often uncoordinated and unskilled, but witty and funny and caring.  Xander was "us" in the show - the people without any abilities who wanted to fight alongside Buffy - he was our "in", how we could be part of the Scooby Gang.  Not being magical or powerful, Xander was able to see and recognise the strength in others, the struggles they were going through, the times when they needed a shoulder to cry on or needed someone to tell them to stop acting like an idiot.  Or when they just needed a one-liner to break the tension.

One of my favourite Xander episodes occured in season 5, when a demon splits him into two people.  Nicholas Brendon (the actor who plays Xander) is a twin, so his twin brother, Kelly Donovan, played his other half.

Nicholas and Kelly

Nicholas came to Brisbane Oz Comic Con in 2015 with Emma Caulfield.  He's still gorgeous all these years later, and very friendly.

With Emma Caulfield and Nicholas Brendon

Happy Stitching